3: Wealth equality, antidepressants, and happiness

This week, all of our topics come from the happiness section of our site. We learn about how the wealth of others affects your happiness, the effectiveness of anti-depressant drugs, and why being happy all the time may not make you happy all the time.

Hosts: 

Thomas Donoghue

Tom is a PhD student in the Cognitive Science department of UCSD, where he uses computational methods and neural recordings to investigate how the brain communicates with itself. He did a Cognitive Science Bachelor's degree at McGill University and has research experience in neuroimaging and language studies. Outside of being a science nerd, he enjoys travel and music.

Ian Mahar

Ian is a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University, studying neuropsychiatric features of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other neurodegenerative conditions. He did his PhD in Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, doing neuropsychiatry research in the McGill Group for Suicide Studies at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. He also does science writing and outreach, and his primary interests for all three are how the brain regulates emotions, and what happens when this regulation goes awry.

Role: 

Joshua Jackson

Joshua Conrad Jackson is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He studies how culture changes over time, and the impact of cultural change on human cognition and behavior. Outside of research, he enjoys traveling and long-distance running.